


The Companion

by a_little_hope (orphan_account)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Doctor Who Fusion, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Flirting, Books, British Female Character, Coffee, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Rey Needs A Hug, Science Fiction, Shyness, Tea
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-22 21:18:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13175397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/a_little_hope
Summary: When Ben was a kid, he met a girl in a box. She told him of places far away and called herself the Doctor. She promised she’d take him away in that very box she’d popped out of, and then disappeared.Years Later after numerous therapy sessions and outbursts, Ben has a relatively mediocre life, and then she comes back.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kylocatqueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kylocatqueen/gifts).



> This is a Reylo!Doctor Who universe, but after the first two chapters there will be divergence from the story. 
> 
> To all the fans who are British who might be offended that she's getting an American companion,,, sorry... 
> 
> Anyways! Hope you enjoy!

Ben Solo hated being alone. Which wasn’t very ideal considering that he found himself alone, often. It was midnight, and his parents hadn’t come back from work yet, or even called to check on him. 

 

Ben knew that he shouldn’t be awake still, it was far too late for a nine year old to stay awake, but sleep seemed like a far worse alternative to staying awake. Besides, he had a bunch of books to keep him company.

 

Still, he couldn't help but feel lonely. He read of stories where the character would meet some magical companion and go on adventures and feel a bit jealous.  _ Even fictional characters have friends.  _ He’d tell himself, and he would find himself looking up at the sky, wishing for a friend. 

 

He did the same thing tonight, except something was different. 

 

Tonight there was something that he thought was a shooting star that he wished upon, until it came closer and crashed just outside his mother’s garden. Ben peered outside the window in his room to see a dark blue box, over on it’s side, outside his apartment. 

 

Ben knew that he shouldn’t go out to investigate, but he did anyways, curiosity got the better of him.

 

He walked outside with a flashlight in hand, watching in surprise as a girl popped up from the smoking entrance of the box. Her hair was wet and sticking on her neck. 

  
“Who are you?” Ben called out.

 

“Huh? Oh, human!” The girl blinked several times and then stumbled very awkwardly out of her blue box. Ben tried not to laugh when she nearly fell.    
  
“Sorry, about that. My name is The Doctor,” the girl said in a posh British accent. She straightened her long coat and then held her hand out to the boy.    
  
He shook it. “That’s not a name though?”    
  
“Isn’t it?” Her voice momentarily cracked and she coughed. “Sorry, still getting used to this body. Are your parents home?” Ben shook his head no. The girl seemed a bit concerned by that, but tried not to let on. “Do you have any food?”    
  


“Yes,” he nodded. 

 

“I’m starved, d’you mind if I come in?” 

 

“No,” 

 

“Good, great. Wow, it's cold.” Ben laughed at the bubbliness of this strange girl that just landed in his yard. He lead her right to the kitchen like she was a friend he'd seen a million times before. 

 

“What do you like?” He asked. 

 

“Hmm, not sure. Different taste pallette, time to try new things. Except pears, anything except pears.”

 

That was specific. Ben headed for the pantry and grabbed the first thing he found. Beans. The Doctor watched in astonishment as he began to cook. “How old are you?” 

 

“Nine,” he said. 

 

“You're tall for a nine year old… and you know how to cook too… human children never cease to amaze,” he was proud for a second, but that was overshadowed by confusion. She’d said human children, like she wasn’t human. 

 

“Yeah… the kid who lives down the street from me, Poe, is six months older than me and told me that his mother won’t let him use the oven.” He watched the beans simmer until he was satisfied with them, and then put them on a plate for the girl that called herself ‘The Doctor’.

 

“Well I can tell that you’re far better than me, I could barely function at nine.  _ God, that was so long ago.” _

 

“What are you talking about? You look ten years older than me, at best.” The girl crinkled her nose, looking down at the beans. 

 

“What? Don't you like beans?” The girl ate a forkful and then shook her head no. Ben sighed, and went back to the pantry. “We have peaches, chips,” and then he went over to the refrigerator, “dip, cheese, carrots…”

 

“Just cook me what you think is best,” he shrugged and took the peaches out of the refrigerator and cut them up for her. It took nearly an hour before she’d finally found what she wanted in the most unholy combination of food that Ben had ever seen. Fish sticks and custard. 

 

“Fish fingers,” Rey had corrected him. “God, you Americans make everything sound more miserable.” Ben scrunched up his nose as he stared at what she was eating. 

 

“Oi!” She said, “You try regenerating and then having nothing to eat for twelve whole hours. Mmm this is good, want some?”  _ Regeneration? This girl was so weird.  _

 

“I’m good,” Ben said. He paused, watching her eat more before asking, “What’s regeneration?” 

 

“Hmm? Oh, it’s a long explanation. Could probably bore you to sleep.”

 

“What’s the shorter version?” He asked. 

 

“You sure ask a lot of questions, don’t you?” 

 

“I do,” 

 

The Doctor smiled a bit, “‘s a good quality to have. Never lose that. Anyway, if I told you, you would never believe me.”

 

“You already fell out of a big blue box from the sky, try me.”

 

The Doctor put down the fish finger she was about to dip in her custard and swallowed. She beckoned for him to lean forward and then said, “I’m not human,” Ben jumped back a bit. 

 

“What?”

 

“Not human,” she said. “Got two hearts, regeneration is something I do when I’ve been injured, burns off a lot of calories.”

 

For some reason, Ben didn’t even question it. He believed her. It made her mannerisms make more sense at least. 

 

“And that blue box?”

 

“My spaceship … of sorts.”

 

“How could that be? Its so small.” 

 

“Mm, that you would have to see for yourself.” She resumed eating, and then got up and found a spoon for Ben. “I can tell you want some custard,” she was right. Despite it being so late, he was starving. So they both dug in and ate. “So, Ben… it’s 1:30 and your parents still aren’t here… wouldn’t they leave you with a sitter or something?” 

 

Ben shook his head no. “My dad reckoned since I cooked I would be fine. Parents work for the government. It gets busy.” 

 

“Still no excuse to leave you at home like this by yourself, you could let a stranger into the house.”

 

“But you’re a stranger,” Ben pointed out. Rey opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again, letting Ben know he’d made a good point. 

 

“I guess you just get used to it. Plus, I kinda scared all the baby sitters away, so…”

 

“Why’d you say that? You seem like a lovely kid to me, and you can cook too.” Ben beamed a little at that. He was so unused to getting praise for his actions, that he wanted to take in every moment he could get of it. Then his face fell again as he scraped at the bowl of custard. 

 

“I have nightmares… and outbursts. Mom said it’s too much for sitters to handle.” He went silent for a second before saying, “The crack in the wall of my room doesn’t make it any better though.”

 

She tensed at that. “Really?”

 

“Yeah,” Ben suddenly regretted saying anything about it. Every adult he’d met told him everything was in his head. That it was just a crack in the wall. 

 

“D’you want to tell me more?”

 

“Most people just say it’s stupid,” 

 

The girl stopped eating. “Hey,” she reassured him, “I won’t think it’s stupid. Tell me about it.”

 

For some reason he trusted her enough to say, “Sometimes I can hear other people talking behind it. Like, not my mom and dad, and not my uncle Luke whenever he comes over.” Rey nodded. She gave no indication of thinking he was insane like his parents had when he told them. “It… it’s like… darkness lives behind there. And it’s scary,”

 

He expected her to brush it off, expected her to say that he would get over it eventually, but in fact, her reaction was quite the opposite. “Do you want me to take a look at this crack?” 

 

Ben bit his lip. 

 

Maybe she could help. 

 

“Yes,” he muttered. 

 

“Take me to your room,”

 

So he did. 

 

His room was filled with every comic book imaginable, some he drew himself. Little handmade space ships and shuttle crafts sat on his bookshelf, which was chock-full of books and comics alike. Rey marveled at everything, including the glow in the dark star collection that he’d put on his ceiling. “You got every constellation right, that’s impressive.”

 

“Thanks, learned it in Boy Scouts.” He explained. 

 

“Very good.” The Doctor said, then she turned to see the crack, and grimaced. “Hmm,” her lips pursed and she got onto the bed, pressing her ear up against the crack’s sharp and jagged edges. “That, is definitely not normal.” Something in Ben was relieved when she said this. He wasn’t going crazy. “Nope, not good at all.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Two seams of the universe,” she said. “Pressed here, trying to keep everything shut, and there is definitely something on the other side.”

 

The Doctor pulled herself off of his bed, and pulled out a weird light thing from her pocket Ben had never seen before. 

 

“What’s that?” 

 

“A sonic screwdriver,” she said. “Does a lot of neat things, doesn’t work on wood though, for some reason.” She waved the sonic over the crack. 

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Opening it,”

 

“No, don’t open it.”

 

“Relax, Ben. It’s fine. If I open it, I can tell whoever is on the other side to go away, and it should provide a temporary fix to your nightmares. Trust me?” 

 

Ben nodded. 

 

She waved the screwdriver over everything a couple more times and then, his wall opened a crack, just like an eggshell. Ben jumped when to his horror, he saw one big, yellow eye staring back at them. 

 

“Prisoner 001 has escaped,” the thing behind the wall said. “Prisoner 001 has escaped.”

 

Rey shielded Ben, “Well the prisoner isn’t here.” She said. “Got that. This is an innocent kid, not your prisoner. Now go back to where you came from.” 

 

Ben didn’t think it would work. 

 

It did. 

 

Rey sighed as his wall closed back up and the crack returned. “It’s still there.”

 

“No voices though,” she said. “Go ahead, listen.” Ben got up on the bed and pressed his ear to the wall.

 

Nothing. 

 

He got back up and turned back to the girl, giving her a hug. “Thank you,” the girl patted him on the shoulder awkwardly. 

 

“No problem,” she said. “Now, would you want to help me fix my ship?” He nodded, grabbing a tool box that he kept under his bed from his dad. 

 

The Doctor smiled. “Splendid,” 

 

* * *

 

_ This kid is so cute.  _ Rey thought to herself. She’d always had a soft spot for human children, but this one was different. He was that rare child who’s heart was in exactly the right place, who was born when the stars aligned, and everything was true. 

 

He’d held a flashlight while she fixed her ship and got it upright. She wondered if he was cold out there and she was going to tell him he could go inside but he made no complaints about it.

 

Within an hour, it was fixed. 

 

She turned around and looked at Ben, who was still sitting there with his flashlight. “Ben… do you like the stars?” She asked. 

 

“Yeah,” the kid perked up, the black curly mop of hair he had bouncing as he stood up. 

 

“What if, I took you to see them?”

 

“I’ve seen the stars before, in an observatory.” Rey shook her head, and chuckled. “I mean up close.”

 

“You could do that?” Ben’s eyes widened and Rey nodded. 

 

“Of course,” she said. “Would get you back in time before your parents came back of course.”

 

“How is that possible?”

 

“You would just have to wait and see.” She told him. Then she straightened up. “Of course, I would have to take it for a spin to make sure it’s fine before I let you on.” Ben’s face fell a little. “Hey, all it would take is five minutes.” She assured him. “Just five.”

 

“I can wait,” he said. 

 

“Good,” she said. Then she left. 

 

It was only supposed to be five minutes.


	2. Prisoner 001

Okay, so it wasn’t just five minutes. Rey cursed herself when she stepped out of the TARDIS to find it was morning. “Kriff,” She hissed to herself as she headed for the gate. 

 

_ God I hope he’s not mad.  _ “Ben!” She called. “Ben, it’s me! The Doctor! I am  _ so so  _ sorry I’m late.” She noticed there still wasn’t any cars in the driveway.  _ His parents still aren’t here?  _ “I can make it up to you! Take you to get some comic books or something like the ones you had in your room!” She stumbled over the fence and then headed for the front door. 

 

There had still been no answer. 

 

Rey reached for the doorknob and gave it a twist. Locked. “Ben, listen. I know you’re mad and you have a right to be mad.” She shouted. “But please let me make it up to you,”

 

Still no answer. Not even any moving in the house. This was… concerning to say the least. Rey took out her sonic screwdriver and waved it over the lock until she heard a satisfying  _ click  _ and she pushed the door open. 

 

There was no sign of life inside the house, and Rey found herself looking everywhere for Ben. He was nowhere to be found. 

* * *

  
  


Ben Solo had been told for all his life that he was too focused on fairy tales. Especially after he told his parents of the girl who’d fixed the crack in his wall, who told him of stars and ate nearly everything in his pantry. 

 

After awhile, he had learned to accept that fact. He’d gotten a job where he could stay in his apartment but still make a decent amount of money. He’d put himself into a routine. Antidepressants and a whole bunch of other pills that Ben had lost track of, and was fairly sure he didn’t need, work for eight hours behind a computer, take his therapy dog, Chewie, for a walk, cook, maybe if he felt good enough he would draw, and then he would go to sleep and repeat the pattern all over again. 

 

The pattern only broke for the occasional eye doctor appointment and his mother visiting. And of course… one other thing. 

 

Each year he visited his old house. No one lived there anymore, and he still had a key. There was still a part of him that hoped that there would be a big blue box in his old garden and a girl profusely apologizing for how late she’d been. 

 

How late had she been? 

 

Eighteen years.

 

He had got up and realized it was that day. The day she came. 

 

Ben got up and got dressed, hurriedly getting into his car and going for the house.  _ This is so stupid,  _ he thought to himself,  _ she’s not going to be there. She’s never there.  _

 

It didn’t take long for him to find himself in the driveway of his old house. He looked about a second before he saw something he thought he would never see again. A flash of deep blue in his garden. “I’m hallucinating,” He muttered to himself. Something drove him forwards though. 

 

He was in his garden now, and he wasn’t mistaken. A large blue box with the words, ‘ _ Police Box,’  _ stood there, upright in his garden. Ben took off his glasses, wiped them off, and put them back off. Still there. 

 

He reached an arm out, and touched the wooden surface. That was most definitely, really, really real. 

 

Ben stumbled backwards and looked around. Either he’d somehow inadvertently ingested shrooms or there had been a big miscalculation on someone else’s part. Ben looked around and then to the door, which just opened. Out stumbled a girl in a long coat and button up shirt, with shoes that were just a little bit too big for her. She saw him and squinted. “Hello?” She called as she marched up back to her TARDIS. “I’m sorry,” she shouted, “is this your house?”

 

“No one’s lived here for a while, miss.” He said almost instinctively. What else was he supposed to say?

 

“No, no. That can’t be the case.” She was only a few feet away from him now. “It was only supposed to be five minutes.” She muttered. Ben’s fists clenched into balls, trying to keep his hands from shaking.  _ This couldn’t be real. This was a dream. It had to be a dream. _

 

“Do you know a Ben Solo?” She asked him. “Dark, curly hair. Tall for a nine year old. Shy. I promised him something and… oh god…” She looked the exact same age. How could she be real if she still looked like she was nineteen? “I’m sorry, this is probably weird to you. I can just… leave… if you step away from that-” 

 

No.

 

“You’re looking for Ben Solo?” It sounded weird in his mouth. Ben pushed his glasses back up on the bridge of his nose. 

 

“Yes, do you know where he is?”

 

Weakly, Ben raised his hand before letting it fall back to his side. Her eyebrow furrowed, and then Ben said, “Right here in front of you.” 

 

“No,”

 

“Yeah,” 

 

“No. It was only five minutes. I checked and everything.” 

 

Ben almost laughed. “God, I feel like I’m hallucinating. I probably am. Which… is great… I’m gonna go home and uh… pop some pills and lay down.”

 

“Ben?”

 

“Yeah,” Rey stared at him for a second. “I didn’t think I would see you again… at least… not for a long time.”

 

“I promised five minutes…”

  
  


Ben rolled his eyes. “Yeah well five minutes was eighteen years for me and ten of those years were spent with therapy that convinced me you weren’t even real, so excuse me for thinking you wouldn’t come back.” Rey pinched him. “Ow. What was that for?”

 

“That real enough for you?”

 

“Yeah I guess, but-”

 

A weird sound sounded off in Ben’s car, and then one blaring voice came on the radio. “Prisoner 001 has escaped.” It was a voice he never thought he would hear again. “Prisoner 001 has escaped.”

 

“Where is that coming from?” Rey asked. 

 

“My car radio,” Ben said. “But my car is off…”

 

“Hmm. Interesting,” Rey said. She started walking towards Ben’s car without any permission and waved her weird light thingy- her sonic screwdriver- over the door. It opened and she got in the passenger seat. 

 

“What the hell are you doing?”

 

“Hurry up,” She said. Ben shook his head and got in the car, trying not to freak out. He turned his car on. Every station was playing the same thing. 

 

“Prisoner 001 has escaped.”

 

“Get to a TV,” Rey said. Ben fumbled to put his keys in the ignition. “ _ Now _ ,” 

 

“Well excuse me, I’m trying.” When the car started he stepped on it, and ended up at the house of the only friend he really had. Poe Dameron. 

 

Rey got out of the car when it was still moving and Ben nearly had a heart attack. “What are you doing?”

 

“Getting to a TV,”

 

“You can’t just barge in like that, Doctor. Wait.” Despite his long legs, the Doctor was faster than him. He was a lot more clumsy than she was though. She was waiting for him expectantly near the door. He knocked on the door and a few seconds Poe opened it. 

 

“Oh, Ben. Hey buddy,”

 

“Hey, Poe. Was wondering if I could use your TV really quick. Need to see the new-”

 

“Oh hey you brought a girl? Are you finally getting laid, buddy?” Ben choked.

 

“No one’s being used as a mattress, now I need to see a TV.  _ Now.”  _ Poe raised an eyebrow but let them both in. The news was playing, and of course. That large eye from the crack in the wall was there, except it was attached to just about the largest spacecraft Ben had ever seen. The news anchor looked like she was going into some sort of shock as she relayed the news and Ben didn’t blame her. 

 

“... No one has yet found out what this... _ entity  _ wants. Just that Prisoner 001 has escaped… my sources are telling me it just spoke. Jack, play the feed.” 

 

“Prisoner 001 has escaped, Earth has 30:00 minutes to return him into our custody. If not, Earth will be eradicated.”

 

“I must’ve smoked way too much weed,” Poe muttered. 

 

“Nope,” The Doctor said. “That's real,” then she turned to Poe. “What do you do?”

 

“What?”

 

“What’s your occupation?”

 

“Computer programmer…” He said. “Like Ben,”

 

“Great. Need a computer. Now.” Poe stared at her blankly for a minute. “Am I speaking Gaelic? Come on.” 

 

“Oh, o-okay.” Ben was glad it wasn’t just him. Poe went and got his laptop and opened it, and Rey waved her sonic screwdriver over it. “What’s that?”

 

“None of your business,” 

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Putting you on a Skype call with the world’s leaders.”

 

“What?!”

 

“You're going to convince them  _ not  _ to launch any missiles that will potentially aggravate that prison ship. I know you Americans do love your explosives but that will only make it mad. Instead find a place where there aren’t very many people close to here and submit a  _ very  _ strong GPS signal from there. Ben and I will take care of the rest.”

 

“Is this the girl you had to go to therapy for?” Ben nodded. “Shit man,” he turned back to the laptop screen. People were starting to connect, and The Doctor pulled Ben along with her.

 

* * *

 

Rey had an inexorable amount of guilt on her shoulders. She still hadn’t processed the gravity of her mistakes when Ben had gotten back in the car and pulled out of Poe’s driveway. “Rey?” 

 

“Hmm?” 

 

“Where do you want me to go?” 

 

“D’you remember when the ship was spotted?” Ben nodded and took off, navigating rather dangerously down the road. Rey was silent as she tried to form a plan. 

 

She usually just winged it, but she only had thirty minutes this time, and there was a chance that she could mess it up. “Rey we only have twenty five minutes,” 

 

“Right,” She said, “We need to get to the place Poe’s picked. Ask him what location.” 

 

“I’m driving,” Rey sighed and pulled the phone from his pocket. “The password is-” 

 

“Irrelevant.” She sighed as she turned his phone on. “Go to the General Hospital, It’s been evacuated.” Ben turned violently, cutting a curb to avoid a light. 

 

They were on the road for a bit before Rey said, “So, You’re a computer programmer?” 

 

“Right now isn’t a good time for small talk, Doctor.” 

 

“Right,” She huffed, and then looked at the clock. “Eighteen minutes,” she said. 

 

Ben stepped on it.

* * *

 

“Oh shit,” The girl hissed. “The Atraxi.” 

 

“The what now?” 

 

“The Atraxi, that’s the species that’s looking for Prisoner 001.” 

 

“Yeah, I don’t know what that is but okay.” 

 

“How do we even know the Prisoner is on Earth?” 

 

“The GPS signal wasn’t for the Atraxi.” The Doctor said.

 

Suddenly it clicked, they were headed right for Prisoner 001, and there was a chance they could die in like, what? Fourteen minutes? 

 

Fourteen minutes. 

 

Ben nearly crashed into the front of the General Hospital. They got out and headed inside. The girl stopped him at the entrance. “Okay,” The Doctor said, “I’m not going to sugar coat this, we might die. You don’t have to follow me in.” 

 

“We have a fifty percent chance of dying by whatever this Prisoner 001 is, or whatever that big eye is. So why not?” The Doctor nodded and the both of them ran to the left wing, Ben was gonna ask if The Doctor knew where she was going, but decided not to.  _ Oh gods, we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die. Aren’t we gonna die?  _ At least, Ben thought, he could die knowing that he wasn’t insane. 

 

The girl in the box was real. 

 

They went up several floors and The Doctor slid out into the hallway, her sonic buzzing around as she fiddled with it. 

 

Ben had so many questions, but he decided to leave them for now. They were going to die. He followed Rey when she started to move. They ended up in the ward for the comatose. “I don’t understand,” Ben said, “I thought that the hospital had been evacuated.” 

 

“Was what Poe said,” The Doctor got really quiet as she looked around for a clock. “Five minutes, just five minutes, and Prisoner 001 is in here, I know you are. So there’s no point in hiding… You’ve been found out.” The icy tone that her voice took sent chills through Ben’s skin. He’d never expected that he would hear that sort of tone from her, a girl who seemed so bubbly and so happy, but then he supposed that he never really knew anything about the Doctor to begin with. 

 

Every bed in the comatose ward shifted, and every patient sat straight upwards. The both of them jumped, looking around. “They’re all the same.” Ben said. 

 

“I think we’re in the presence of Prisoner 001,” She laughed, “Talk to me. And don’t waste my time, please. We have four minutes left.” 

 

They turned again, to see a woman, no, Prisoner 001 in a suit standing there in front of them. “Doctor,” It said. 

 

“Yes, that’s me. Right here. What do you want?” 

 

“This fight is futile,” It said. “I will not go back to the Atraxi,” Prisoner 001 stated plainly. “This is my second time escaping, they’ll kill me this time if I go back.”

 

“Well you’ll die anyways, they’re going to blow up the Earth.” 

 

“If I die, it might as well be in flame.” Prisoner 001 said. 

 

“ _ If I die, it might as well be in flame. _ ” 

 

“Uh, do you think this is the best time to mock a morphing alien that could kill us at any second?” Ben hissed. 

 

“Pfft, I know what I’m doing.” The girl turned back to the alien, and said, “Who are you… where do you come from?” 

 

“What does this-?” 

  
  


“Answer me,” 

 

“My planet is no more,” This was exactly what The Doctor wanted to hear, Ben could tell. 

 

“My planet’s no longer existent either,” Her voice had gone back from that icy tone into something softer, like she was trying to coax a wounded animal. 

 

“My children are gone. I watched them burn at the hands of the Atraxi.” Three minutes. Ben looked down at Rey’s hands. She was pressing onto her screwdriver. The green light flaring up behind her back. 

 

“I watched the children of my planet die,” The Doctor said. “I can still hear their screams, I know that you’re in pain. I know that you want to hurt other people, but do you want to be the reason the children of these planets die?”  _ Oh that was good.  _ Silence leveled the room as they all stood in silence. That’s when Ben heard it, the loud whooshing sound of a ship levitating above the hospital. 

 

The Doctor broke for the window, opening it and shouting, “Your prisoner is in here!” Before the Prisoner could escape, she turned around, and waved her sonic screwdriver at the Prisoner. Ben was still trying to figure out how that thing worked. Prisoner 001 contorted awfully, and turned into something grey and slimy, something that would have come from Ben’s childhood nightmares, and then it evaporated. 

 

“Prisoner 001 has been collected.” With that, the ship was starting to whir away, and Ben found himself sighing in relief. 

 

“We’re done? We’re alive.” 

 

“Yes, Ben. We’re still alive, but we’re not done yet.” The girl picked up his phone from him, pressing a bunch of things that he couldn’t see. 

 

  
“What are you doing?” Ben breathed. 

 

Rey held up a finger as she got on the phone. “Hello? Yes, what are you doing going away?” There was a pause. “Yes, well you may have gotten your prisoner but I am not done with you. Get back here, right now. I’ll meet you on the roof.” 

 

“What the hell?” Ben surged forward, about to grab the phone from The Doctor. “What did you do? Did you just save the world from aliens, and then bring them back?! That’s insane! They were leaving.” The girl smirked as they headed up towards the roof. She straightened her long coat before she said, 

 

“Leaving is good,” She handed him his phone and he pocketed it, “ _ Never coming back  _ is better.” Ben stopped as he watched the ship with the large yellow eye whirling way above them. “Come on then!” Rey shouted, “The Doctor will see you now!” The ship flew down at a dangerous speed, and the yellow eye stopped right before her. 

 

“Doctor,” 

 

It looked like it was scanning her. “You are not of this world,” It said. 

 

“No, but I put a lot of work in this.” She smiled.  _ What was she playing at?  _

 

“Is this world important?” It asked. Ben felt offended on behalf of the human race. 

 

“Important?” The Doctor seemed offended as well, “What do you mean important? Six billion people live here, what do you mean important?” She spat. The way she told off aliens that were prepared to burn the Earth would send Ben into cardiac arrest. “Here’s a better question, is this world a threat to the Atraxi? Well come on you’re monitoring the whole planet, is this world a threat?” 

 

The eye seemed to be scanning more things as a hologram appeared in front of them, displaying different things that happened in history, all the art and suffering, all of it. “No,” It said. 

 

“Are the people of this world guilty of any laws by terms of the Atraxi?” 

 

More scanning. More history on display.  

 

“No,” The voice said. 

 

“Okay!” The Doctor exclaimed. “One more, just one. Is this world protected?” The way she said it… On the hologram in front of them, a bunch of terrors that Ben had never even seen before, large robots and greasy looking aliens marched, trying to bring down their reign of terror upon the Earth. Much like Ben thought the Atraxi were trying to just twenty minutes ago. “Because you’re not the first to have come here, believe me, there have been so many.” More, and more species had flashed across the screen, Ben wasn’t sure how many. “And what you’ve got to ask is,” She straightened her coat and stepped a little closer to the hologram that was displaying all the things that had tried to take over the Earth, “What happened to them?” 

 

That icy tone was back. The display changed, to show different women, but there was something that was the same, in the eyes. Rey walked through the hologram. That’s when Ben connected the dots, she was all of them, and she’d defeated all of these creatures. The hologram went out. “Hello,” She said. “I’m the Doctor…” Silence. “Basically, run.” 

 

With that, the eye retracted back into the ship, and they left. 

They really, left. 

 

That was it then. Ben laughed, he couldn’t help but laugh, there was nothing else he could do. “So that’s it then? They’re really gone.” The girl got off the ledge and hopped back onto the roof. She was looking at something in her hand, something that he couldn’t see. Ben’s face fell when she started running back through the hospital. Like that, she was gone too. 

 

Again. 

 

It was night and Ben was back in his apartment when he’d just so happened to look outside. It was there again. Ben remembered when he was a kid and he saw that stupid box outside of his window the first time. He went downstairs and outside in his night shirt and pajama pants, grabbing his glasses along the way down. 

 

The girl was waiting for him outside, leaning against it. She smiled, that same bubbly exterior that he was met with all those years ago. “Hi,” She said. 

 

“What are you doing here?” 

 

“I had a question,” She said, “Would you like to run away with me?” 

 

“What?” 

 

“Would you like to runaway with me?” The Doctor asked. Ben couldn’t believe what he was hearing. 

 

“I… Doctor, I’m not a kid anymore.” 

 

“I can see that,” She said. 

 

“I can’t just run away, I have a job.” 

 

“Ben, do you know what this is called?” 

 

“Uh, your weird space box thing,” 

 

Rey almost laughed, “It’s called a TARDIS, stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. This is a time machine,” She replied, “I made sure that it was fixed this time, I could have you back by morning if you wished.” Ben’s hands were shaking. “Come on,” She said. “Just one trip, and then you can decide if you want to go home.” 

 

With that, he nodded. Something in him had longed for her for so long, for that friend that had promised him adventure, and hell… what was one adventure? “Okay,” He agreed, “Just one.” 


	3. Kindness

Ben had to be dreaming. He had to be. The second he stepped into the Doctor’s weird blue box, his brain had stopped functioning. He remembered what all those years of therapy had done to his head, how they had made him  _ need  _ to rationalize the unexplainable. “Wow.” The inside of her spacecraft was… definitely unexplainable. The center of the room was a large control panel, that much he knew, there was a rolling chair to the left and ramps leading off into different hallways, and the walls were a mixture between a gold and a chrome hue.  _ How could the inside of a police box that was no bigger than a telephone box hold all of this?  _ “It-It’s bigger on the inside.” He took his glasses off and wiped them off with his sleeve, before nearly dropping them. She caught them with one instinctive swoop and gave them back. He put them back on.

“Never heard that before,” she almost laughed as she watched him go around in circles, heading up from the entrance to the control panel. He was smart enough not to touch a thing. “So…” Ben focused back on her, to give him something to focus on. “All of time and space. Where do you want to go?”

 

That was one hell of a loaded question. “Uh…” it just occured to him that out of all the years he’d fantasized about her whisking him away to far and unknown places, he had never really decided where he wanted to go, or what he wanted to do. “You promised me we could see the stars.” Was all he managed to come up with. That came out really lame, but the girl’s eyes softened and she said, 

 

“Of course.” 

 

The Doctor worked at the control panel and Ben heard the sound of a weird futuristic engine whirring and then settling in. “Look outside,” she said. He was frozen for a second. “Go on, look.” Ben went back to the door, not knowing what to expect. 

 

He should’ve known they wouldn’t have been outside his apartment anymore, but the sudden movement had shocked him. He opened the door to see void, and stars. He nearly jumped out of his skin. 

 

“Uh, Doctor?” He asked. 

 

“Yes?”

 

“How am I still breathing?”

 

“Huh, oh, uh there’s a mile wide atmospheric bubble around the TARDIS, so you’re safe. Don’t worry.”

 

“Oh, okay. That makes sense.” Not really, but Ben didn’t know what else to say. He looked down below him, to see nothing but the void of space, and more stars, millions of lightyears in the distance as they orbited Earth. “Uh, I think I’m getting a little bit dizzy.” He admitted sheepishly. Before his knees could give, she had pulled him up and kept him study as he looked out upon the scene in front of him.

 

“You okay?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m fine, just… it’s overwhelming how beautiful it is.” He looked back to her as they closed the doors. “Really it is,”

 

“Well if you’re impressed by that you haven’t seen anything yet. Any idea where you want to go now? Or shall I pick a random place and see where the journey takes us?”

 

“Let’s see where the journey takes us.” Ben said. An even bigger smile played at her face. 

“Right choice,” she replied. “It’s always more fun when you don’t know where you’re going.” She was so excited, perhaps more excited than Ben was, and for a minute, he realized just why she’d offered to take him along. 

 

She was lonely. More lonely than humanly possible. 

 

The TARDIS landed. “Okay,” She exclaimed, “Let’s see where we are shall we?” Ben didn’t step outside until she was right next to him. The two of them stepped out together. 

 

Ben didn’t know what to do, yet again, or how to process anything. They stood in the middle of a marketplace that was bustling with different people and creatures. “Oh,” The Doctor said, “Exciting, we’re about a few million years in future and capitalism still exists in this society.” Ben almost laughed, and The Doctor grabbed him by the sleeve of his nightshirt. “Come along, Solo.” 

 

“Where are we going?” 

 

“To check it out!” She laughed, “I’ll get you something if you like,” 

 

“You don’t have to,” He told her. 

 

“Yes, excuse me?” The girl had already gotten the attention of one of the merchants, and was bartering with him to get something. What she was trying to get? Ben wasn’t sure, but she ended up getting it and giving it to Ben. “There you go, a gift.” 

“What’s that?” It was small and golden and rectangular. 

 

“Put this in place of your SD card.” Ben did. “Universal usage, including data, and signal” She said. “Won’t even have to pay for a data plan.” His phone went from no signal to full bars before he put it back in the pocket of his pajama pants. 

 

“Thanks,” 

 

“No problem.” She opened her mouth to speak but then closed it, her eyes focusing on something else. “Ooh that’s interesting.” Ben looked around to see what she was looking for, but didn’t see anything. 

 

“What are you looking at?” She pointed across the merchant’s square to an area that must’ve served as some sort of outdoor eating area. But they were inside. “I’m sorry I have shitty eyesight, you’re going to have to help me out.” 

 

“Too much reading in the dark?” The girl giggled. 

 

“Yeah,” 

 

“Look at their water.” She pointed to two girls that were eating out in the outside dining area. “It’s shaking. If we were on a stable surface like a planet, per say, it wouldn’t do that. Which means we’re not on a planet we’re on a ship. A very, very, very, large ship.” 

 

“How could you even see that?” 

 

“Alien, remember?” 

 

Ben nodded and sighed as the both of them looked around, taking in the place. “So like, you never really told me what kind of alien you were?” 

“Timelord,” Was all she said. 

 

“Timelord… and where are the timelords from?” 

 

“Gallifrey.” She said, “and I’m the last one.”  _ Fuck.  _

 

“Sorry that I brought it up.” 

 

“No, it’s okay it usually comes up in conversation anyway and the death of my planet was a very long time ago. So, it’s not like you’re bringing up fresh wounds.”

 

“Right,” That didn’t stop him from feeling bad.  “So, uh, what are we doing?” 

 

“What are we doing? Right, we’re just here not get into danger, unless you want to get into danger but frankly I’m not sure if that would be appropriate for your first time in space so we could just explore.” 

 

“Would rather not… uh… get into danger?” 

 

The Doctor tutted and smiled, “We shall see.” The mischievous look in her eye did something to Ben that he wasn’t quite sure how to describe. Her eyes were so very old, and so very sad, but for that one moment, she looked happy. Ben felt the beginning of a smile tugging at his mouth, and pushed his glasses up nervously as he stared at her. 

 

“Come oon, Ben. All this cool stuff to look at and we’re just standing around here like we’re in a human mall.” Technically they were in a mall, but it definitely wasn’t a human mall. Ben looked around as The Doctor pulled at him yet again, singling out a child in the crowd that most definitely was human. She was looking around like she was lost. 

 

“Uh, Doctor?” 

 

“Yes?”

 

“Look,” Ben pointed to her and their course direction changed. It seemed that they both had the same concerns for children that were lost and alone. The Doctor was the first to reach the child, touching the girl lightly on the shoulder. 

 

“Are you okay?” She asked. The girl jumped. “Hey, hey. It’s okay.” She smiled, and the girl calmed a little. 

 

“I’m not supposed to be up here.” She said. Her eyes flitted back and forth and she looked to a wall on the far right flank of the ship. Elevators. 

 

“Where are your parents?” 

 

“I don’t have any,” She said. 

 

“Neither have I,” The Doctor replied. “That’s okay, though. Plenty of people don’t have parents and they turn out just fine. You seem lost though, d’you need help getting back to where you’re supposed to be.” 

 

The girl shook her head no. “I’d rather not.” She kept looking around like she was trying to avoid someone. “My friends disappeared over there,” She looked back to the elevators, and so did the Doctor and Ben, when they looked back to see where she was, the girl was gone. 

“About not getting into any danger…” 

 

Ben’s adams apple bobbed, “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

Rey smiled when Ben said that, “Might die.”

 

“Fun,” She could see that there was something clearly on his mind that he was trying to press down. He was scared. Rey admired the fact that he was following her, no,  _ she didn’t want him to follow her. People get killed this way,  _ but there was a selfish part of her that wanted to keep him near. 

 

“Okay, so something is abducting children.” She said. “And my guess is it’s those creepy looking doll things standing over there next to the elevators, want to go piss them off?” She asked. 

“What would be the point in that again?” 

 

“Getting to the bottom of where all the lost children are, of course.” Ben looked down at her, raising an eyebrow. “Oh come on, Ben. Where’s your sense of adventure?” 

 

“My childhood,” 

 

“Oh, well that’s depressing. I’ll fix that soon enough.” She clapped her hands together momentarily before running towards the creepy Psar like dolls that stood in front of the elevators. Ben was only a few seconds behind her, watching as she scanned them with her sonic. “Not good, not good at all.” 

 

“What’s not good?” 

 

“Don’t know, I think a lot. Will probably remember that soon, right okay why is that girl still over there. Watching us.” 

 

“She’s still crying, why is she crying?” 

 

“She’s crying silently. Children cry silently when they’re afraid of being heard. There’s a bunch of parents all around her, look they’ve passed several times. Meaning that they already know what’s happening.” She passed a wallet to Ben. “Go give that to the girl, it’s hers. Follow her around see what she knows.”

 

“What?” 

 

“You heard me go do as you’re told, okay?”

 

“Uh, in case you didn’t know, I’m really not good at talking to people and I don’t think that the future has changed that much that a strange man following a girl in his pajamas is a good idea.” 

 

“Never get better at anything unless you practice and whilst I’d love to be there, I can’t be in two places at once, so go ahead, go.” Ben swore under his breath and left, following the girl. Once he was out of sight, Rey turned, heading for once of the maintenance doors that everyone was walking by. She had to see the engine, for more than one reason. Her mind had flashed back to the water one of those people had been drinking and the way it shook, it only seemed to be doing that in a sort circadian rhythm, like a breath instead of the shake it would endure from an engine’s constant rumble.

It didn’t take her long to find the way to the engine room, Rey had been on many a star ship before, and she knew where the engine room always lay. 

 

The thing was, the place where the engine should be was hollow. It was like it wasn’t there at all. “That’s impossible.” 

 

“It is,” Rey jumped to see a woman in a mask in front of her. 

 

“Oi! Who are you?” 

 

“You can call me, Liz Ten. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Doctor?” 

 

“How do you know me?” 

 

“Heard the stories, need your help. Picked up the signal from your sonic screwdriver.”

 

“D’you know something about the spaceship?” 

 

“No, ma’am. It just flies, but it’s something I’ve been wondering myself, I wondered if you could help me get to the bottom of it.” She handed her some sort of device. “Keep that on you, I’ll find you.” And with that she disappeared. 

 

Rey held it in her hand and then clipped it to her belt, “Right, now Ben.”  _ God, she hoped he wasn’t dead. That would be bad on a first trip.  _

* * *

 

Ben woke up in a room, his glasses lopsided on his face. He fixed them, and then looked up. There were four different screens in front of him and then a button that said forget, and another button that said protest. He looked to his left. One of those creepy doll things was standing there in the corner, smiling. Ben hated it. 

 

Then Ben remembered what had happened. He’d given that girl her wallet back and she started to tell him about something called ‘The Below’. 

 

The screens turning on suddenly ripped him from his thoughts. “You want to know the truth about the government....” Something must’ve happened because next thing he knew, The Doctor was in the same room. 

 

“What the bloody hell did you do, Solo?” 

 

“I don’t know,” The Doctor scanned him. 

 

“Of course, standard memory wipe you would’ve been in here for about twenty minutes, the only question is why?” 

 

“Because he voted forget.” 

 

The girl was in the frame of the door. “What do you mean he voted to forget?”

 

“Everyone over the age of sixteen is allowed to vote. They learn information about the government and choose to forget each year.” That didn’t make any sense. “They also do it every five years. All of British Society is required to do it.” 

 

“Ah, democracy at work, that’s great. You know governments never change, no matter how far in the future it is, they also like to keep secrets from their people.” 

 

“What are you going to do?” There was this look in her eyes, the one she had before she called the Atraxi back to planet Earth.

 

“What I’ve done so many times before,” 

 

“And that is,” 

 

“Overthrow a government.” She looked down at the Protest button before pushing it.

 

That of course, was a bad idea. 

* * *

 

Ben was starting to think that The Doctor might be insane, no, scratch that,  _ he knew she was insane.  _ The both of them ended up in a mouth after she hit the Protest button, and Ben was covered in the sick that was inside the mouth. The Doctor seemed way too happy about it. 

 

“We’re in a mouth!” She exclaimed for the third time. 

 

“Yeah, I know you said.” 

 

“Are you not excited?” The Doctor asked, “this is a magnificent mouth, and if this was the mouth I would love to see the stomach.” Something groaned, “oh I didn’t mean right now.” 

 

“Be careful what you wish for,” Ben muttered under his breath. That ‘thing’ groaned again. 

 

“Doctor?” 

 

“Yeah, uh, don’t panic but I think we’re about to be digested.” 

 

“ _ Don’t panic?” _

 

“Okay, nevermind just say ‘whee!’ instead.” 

 

That wasn’t going to happen again, he and The Doctor fell once more, and Ben was surprised he hadn’t died yet. Although there was a part of him that had to admit that he liked the exhilaration that came with this weird adventure with the Doctor. 

 

“No, you haven’t died, and yes you are covered in sick. There’s a door in the stomach so that’s nice, would you like to get up before you’re dissolved by stomach acids?” Ben got up, shaking the sick up off him as the two of them went through the door. It was there that they were met by a woman in a mask. 

 

For a while, Ben couldn’t really process anything about what was going on. They were introduced to the Tenth Queen Elizabeth, dried off in her chambers (thank god he could get all the sick that was on him off), and then those creepy dolls were back, and they were escorted to something the Doctor called the Tower of London. He short circuited until they ended up in a room with a brain, and all the children that were abducted, were here as well. That’s when he cued in to the conversation. 

 

“Hello, Doctor.” A man said. 

 

“How come everyone knows you?” Ben whispered. 

 

“Believe it or not my name’s sort of… known throughout time and space by most advanced races.” 

 

“Then how come I never heard of you before you visited me.” 

 

“Good at hiding,” The Doctor turned back to the man that had greeted her. 

 

“We’ve been waiting for you to come for a while, Doctor.”

 

“Right,” She said, “And that reason is?” 

 

“There’s a situation that must be made.” He said. “An awful decision, and you must be the one to make it.” 

* * *

 

Rey swallowed as she looked at the middle of the room. In it, there was a brain, presumably the brain of the creature they had just been in about thirty minutes ago. They were torturing it, and she could hear it’s screams. 

 

She hadn’t been able to hear it up until now, the drum of the people living up above made it impossible to hear. She wondered if the man speaking to her could hear it’s screams. She presumed not, because he didn’t seem at all in pain. “Yes, the creature is the thing that holds up the ship, and it’s been here for a while. We use the electricity to keep it in check.” 

 

Rey looked over to Elizabeth, who seemed absolutely horrified by the fact that her people would allow this to happen, and seemingly without her knowledge. “Right, so this room is basically a giant torture chamber. That’s great. Just great. You humans and enslaving creatures that’s…” 

 

“There’s a choice that must be made.” The man said. “And now it is time to make it. If the creature is let go, we all will die. If the creature stays, it will remain in agony.” Rey felt her heart sank at that as she turned, looking at two buttons, labeled, ‘Abdicate’ and ‘Forget’. 

 

“Shouldn’t she be the one to make it?” She pointed to the queen. “She is the highest authority after all.” 

 

“I… I don’t know if I can make that choice.” She said. 

 

Ben was silent the whole time as Rey looked around, trying to figure out what to do, and then her brain come up with something terrible. Something that would result in the continuance of the human race, but instead of the creature continuing in agony, it would essentially render it a vegetable. It was the only thing that she could do.

 

“Doctor, what are you doing?” Ben spoke up for the first time since they had been in the creature’s stomach. 

 

“I’m increasing the electric pulse in the creature’s brain right now,” She raised her sonic, “It’ll be painful for a split second but after that it will stop all feeling in the creature’s brain. The human race can go on and it will live without pain.” 

 

“You can’t, that’s essentially killing it.” 

 

“Well what other choice do I have!” She shouted at him, “What else am I supposed to do, Ben? It’s the impossible choice, the alien or humanity.” She was shaking, trying to repress memories that she didn’t want to come up. Oh there were so many of those, so many memories. 

 

“Doctor, listen to me? Listen to me, okay. I remember what I saw in that room, that thing that we were in, it’s called a Star Whale, it’s the last of it’s kind and it saved them when the Earth was burning so long ago, you can’t kill it.” Rey swallowed, and turned back. 

 

“Ben, I haven’t got a choice.” 

 

Before she had a chance to say anything else, Ben pushed ‘Abdicate’.

* * *

 

He pushed abdicate. 

 

He could’ve died, and he pushed it anyways, he didn’t care. He couldn’t watch her do something that she would have regretted afterwards. She was already so sad, he couldn’t see her go through something that was preventable. At first, the ship groaned and things shook and sparked. 

 

“What did you do?” Her hand gravitated to the small of his back until the ship levelled out. 

 

“It’s still there,” The man said. 

 

“The ship has increased it’s speed by fifty percent.” 

 

“Yeah, you never needed to torture it.” Ben turned on the man who was speaking, and he spoke so suddenly that he almost didn’t know it was him. “It came here in the first place, and it wanted to be here.” 

 

“How did you know that?” The Doctor’s voice was soft and small, but she seemed relieved. 

 

“Because I’ve seen it before,” He said. “Imagine you’re very old and very kind, and you’re the last of your kind.” He met her eyes. “You’ve watched your planet burn and your children cry. Imagine you’re traveling when you hear it again,” They were all silent, “the sound of children crying, wouldn’t you do anything you could to stop it? To make sure that children stop feeling afraid and alone.” 

 

“You made the right choice,” The Queen said. The Doctor nodded in agreement, but was silent for the longest time as they went back to the TARDIS. It was right as they reached the door that he said, 

 

“Are you mad?” 

 

“What? No,” She turned around and smiled at him softly, “What makes you think that?” 

 

“You haven’t said a single word since we left the Tower.” 

 

“Oh, no that’s just thinking, I tend to do that a lot you know. Forget some stuff I want to remember, remember some stuff I want to forget. So on and so forth.” Ben nearly laughed as she stared down at her. “And I was just thinking about what you did back there. Thank you.” She pushed back into the TARDIS before he was allowed to say anything else, heading straight for the console. “So,” She said, “We’ve come down to the question.” 

 

“Huh?” Ben was holding onto the railing, adjusting his glasses, that he thankfully hadn’t lost in the stomach of the star whale. 

 

“The question.” Rey clapped her hands together momentarily as she neared him. She was in his personal space, way too in it, but he assumed that she didn’t know about personal boundaries. “Are you staying or are you going home?” 

 

Ben’s adam’s apple bobbed. That was a loaded question. “I think that I need to go home.” Rey’s face fell. 

 

“Really? Okay…” 

 

“I mean, not like that, it’s just… I need a few changes of clothes.” 

 

“Why what’s wrong with what your wearing?” Her eyes had lit up again. 

 

“I’m in my pajamas,” 

 

“Oh,” she said. “Well, I have a closet if you take two lefts and then a right, you could look in there, there’s bound to be something your size in there.” 

 

“Wouldn’t it all be women’s clothes?” 

 

“Oh, I still have loads of stuff left over from—” She stopped herself before she said their names.  _ Finn, Wexley, Cassian,  _ and those were only the most recent male companions that she had. They were all dead. Was it really right to take Ben along after… ?“Just go see what’s there, I’m sure there’s something your size there.” 

 

“Two lefts and a right?” 

 

“Third door.” 

 

“Thanks.” 

 

“Right,” She smiled as she watched him walk away, trying to shake darker thoughts from her head. At least, she wasn’t alone for the moment. 


End file.
